Last movie watched

[Antrax]

A boy and his dog wasn't good? Bummer, the story was excellent.
Oh, and thanks, Zag.
_________________
After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I'm gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!

[MatthewV]

[Sonic2011]

I watched Cowboys vs. Aliens, the movie was awesome.

[The Ragin' South Asian]

Lion King 3D - The 3D is a distraction, but it's the Lion King on the a big screen, hard to turn down.

Drive - Very good.

[Death Mage]

The Secret of Kells
I didn't like it.

Yea yea, I get that they were going with stylized art, based on the history of the setting. But I thought it looked horrible. I also get that the story was full of references to things, real and mythological. But ultimately, I found the story to not be engaging. I wasn't interested in the characters, I didn't care about the plot, the artwork was an eye-sore and made the whole thing look like a low-budget Flash project. (And don't get me wrong on that, there are actual professional, commercial animation projects that DO use flash to make a stylized look that I do enjoy, but this movie just came off looking, for lack of a better term, cheap. Which, I suppose, is what happens when you base your art style on something that was designed to be done fairly quickly several hundred years ago. The art style isn't made to look good, it's made to be passable.) And while a lot of this "review" is dedicated to the art style, that is NOT the major complaint I had with the movie. The major complaint I had with the movie is that it was boring, so boring that there's really nothing to say on that subject other than "it was boring".
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* These senseless ramblings brought to you by Insanity™. If you just can't figure the dang thing out, it must be Insanity™.
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[Chuck]

49th Parallel
Miracle at St. Anna

I liked them, especially 49th Parallel. I need more war.

[Quailman]

Contagion

It dealt with the rapid spread of a pandemic, with comparisons to the Spanish Flu. We all left the theater afraid to touch anything or stand too close to strangers. There were quite a few flashbacks where for example you'd see someone you knew was later found to be infected set a glass on the bar just as the busboy was approaching. The camera would zoom in on the glass just long enough to make you never want to eat out again.

It seemed to portray the CDC people realistically. I enjoyed it.

[Pablo]

Bridesmaids = pure trash, beginning to end.
_________________
All religions are the same - Guilt....just with different holidays.

[Quailman]

[aly007]

300 I have watched last movies. It is my all time favorite movies.
The 300 spartan fought with 10000 persian for saves there coutnry.

[Death Mage]

Cube 2: Hypercube and Cube Zero.

Cube did not need sequels. They cheapen it. It was best left as a construction that seemed feasibly possible, but was completely unexplained. Making one that defies the laws of physics, or trying to explain the purpose and origins of the cube was unnecessary, and really, not very well done overall.
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[Antrax]

That's all you have to say about them? Those movies are so hilariously bad, especially Hypercube.
_________________
After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I'm gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!

[The Ragin' South Asian]

Lion King 2D - much better

[Death Mage]

Considering I'd been recently watching movies like Monster Island and Megashark Versus Crocosaurus, those movies didn't even stand out as "so bad they're good". They remind me more of Saw 3D.
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* These senseless ramblings brought to you by Insanity™. If you just can't figure the dang thing out, it must be Insanity™.
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[Undercover Monk]

I didnt find the 3D in Lion King too distracting. I was just hyped to see one of the first movies I saw in theaters on the big screen again with decent popcorn. I went to a 9:30 showing a couple weeks ago and was surprised there were as many people there as there were. A and huge variety of ages. Just goes to show you just how popular the late 80's early 90's disney musicals still are. A great taste of nostalgia.


i hear that they are releasing Beauty and the Beast in the same way around Christmas. They should keep this up I would totally go see Aladdin and Hunchback as well.


And hypercube is crap. Makes me not want to see the original Cube but I've heard its better than Saw so I might rent it some day.
_________________
The Classic Blunders:
1. never get involved in a land war in Asia
2.Never go in against a Sicilian when DEATH is on the line
3. Never release Peyton Manning

[The Ragin' South Asian]

Probably wouldn't bother for B&tB, but I'd see Aladdin for sure. I might get a pair of these first though.

[Scurra]

Midnight in Paris

This will sound like something of a digression, but it isn't.
One of my favourite writers is Terry Pratchett. In his career he has written maybe 40 books set in the fantasy Discworld, and they have all been funny. However as he grew in experience and style, he largely forsook the one-liners, puns and sight-gags in favour of exploring the comedy (and, by extension, tragedy) of character, letting the humour arise from the situation rather than engineering the situation to fit. And now he has sufficient control over every aspect to be able to do both without it looking strained, depending upon circumstance and need.

I have much the same feeling about Woody Allen. He started out as a comic writer (and stand-up performer), and his early film work reflects this, as he stuffed his films with impeccable jokes and comedic set-ups. I love films like Sleeper and Take The Money And Run, which are just a succession of joke after joke with no real pretence at narrative cohesion or deeper meaning. And then he moved into a more introspective period, producing more serious work like Interiors. And everyone said that they preferred the old Woody, with the jokes. But now he can make movies the way he wants to, because of the understanding he has gained from touching both ends of the spectrum. Heck, even a bad Woody Allen film (You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger wasn't exactly a classic) is usually watchable.

Midnight in Paris is up there with his best work though; an effortless demonstration of how good he is. The basic idea is slight - a riff on the idea of nostalgia and how self-defeating it can be - but the execution is almost perfect. With the possible exception of the opening quarter-hour which overdoes the "tourist in Paris" stuff, it zips along nicely. Owen Wilson is one of the best Allen-stand-ins, and some of the cameo performances are worth the price of admission on their own (especially Kathy Bates, and, of course, the scene with the surrealists.)

There are proper laugh-out-loud gags, character jokes, allusions and references and enough going on in most scenes to reward rewatching. And yet in the end it's the character stories which matter - and this manages that as well. Easily one of my favourite films of this year.

In passing, I will note a line which I heard the other day, but which captures the essence of this film nicely.
"This is the past which somebody in the future is longing to go back to."
_________________
_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[Undercover Monk]

No money to go to the theaters right now which is a shame cause there are several movies out right now that i want to see. If anyone one has seen one of these let me know if its worth renting when they come out.

Real Steele
Footloose
The thing
Big Year
_________________
The Classic Blunders:
1. never get involved in a land war in Asia
2.Never go in against a Sicilian when DEATH is on the line
3. Never release Peyton Manning

[davidchatman]

the last movie i watched was the karate kid, and, i actually really liked it.

[Scurra]

The Adventures of Tintin

<note: I don't think I include any spoilers here, because I am aware that - unusually - this film doesn't open in the US for another two months.>

Tintin has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I would repeatedly borrow the albums from the library until I was in a position to be able to afford to buy them for myself, and even then I had to live with paperback versions which quickly fell apart through obsession.

And stories of a Tintin movie seem to have been around almost as long as that. Sure there were two animated tv versions and a couple of extremely strange films, but a major Hollywood-style production? That always seemed to be a fantasy, even if Stephen Spielberg's name was constantly associated with it. So I pretty much had to pinch myself when it appeared that it was finally going to happen. Even if it was going to be in pointless 3D (and yes, the 3D is almost entirely pointless, as usual.) But the combination of Spielberg and Jackson promised much. The question is, did they deliver?

Well, for this long-time fan, the answer is a clear yes. No, the film is not perfect, but ironically it's for all the right reasons. At the heart of it is the problem that Tintin himself is something of a cipher. He has no discernible characteristics (heck, even Snowy has more of a personality) and serves solely as the point of sanity around which the increasingly eccentric cast of supporting characters revolve. But they don't make the mistake of trying to flesh him out; he remains the cipher he always was.
In association with that is the difficulty of making a film based on a single artist's unique graphic vision. Herge's style was hardly groundbreaking but it was certainly very distinctive; any attempt to slavishly replicate it would seem redundant (as, indeed, the two cartoon series proved.) So by making a motion-capture animation, Spielberg and Jackson have attempted to square the circle; the cinematography manages to give the impression of Herge's careful framing and design whilst adding a proper sense of dynamism.

Once again, Andy Serkis proves that motion capture is as nothing without a good performance to drive it; his Captain Haddock inevitably steals pretty much every scene he is in. Most of the other characters are pretty flimsy - even Thomson and Thompson struggle to find their way, although their slapstick is often pretty funny.
And I will concede that Spielberg seems to have a good grasp on how 3D should be used most effectively; sustained single-shots that swoop through the action. It still doesn't mean anything though - a good action sequence is a good action sequence whether it is in 3D or not. But that's a dead argument nowadays I think.

This is perhaps as good a Tintin movie as we had any right to expect. I know that sounds like damning with faint praise, but it's better than that. What Spielberg has done is to make what is a better version of Young Indiana Jones; it's a fantastic family adventure movie of the sort I thought he'd forgotten how to make.
_________________
_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[johnhodges]

Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers. I was watching it last night but I fell asleep.

[Scurra]

We Need To Talk About Kevin

I generally don't like movie adaptations of source material which involves an unreliable narrator, because the literary techniques that allow this to work are generally hard to pull off visually simply because books can use first person in a way that films cannot, or they turn out to rely upon what might be called a trick (cf. Atonement.) This story falls into the former category.
This was one of the most difficult books I have ever read. I did not doubt that it was a great piece of writing, but the subject matter was unsettling and - again - the unreliable narrator meant that as a reader you were needing to bring your own "meta" level to material that was already inherently difficult to deal with. Although I don't think the film quite manages to pull the trick off completely, it is one of the better attempts at it; perhaps because the source material is always upfront about what it is.

The idea behind the story (the eternal question of nature vs nurture) is fascinating, and the air of tragic inevitability is handled rather well; I think the film deals with the core incident better than the book in fact. The acting is pretty good - Tilda Swinton in particular is brilliant as the mother, and the three actors playing Kevin are believable. Alas I think the cinematography is a bit overdone; the red imagery is good but after the opening you've got the idea and it actually distracts you rather than helping. And the non-linear structure can leave you confused at times.
However, those are minor caveats about a film that is simultaneously excellent (a likely awards contender) and, just like the book, one that I fervently never want to see/read again...


p.s. I have just realised that three of the last four films I have discussed in this thread don't open in the US until December/January. This seems quite weird in a world where it mostly seems to work the other way around!
_________________
_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[Pablo]

Tower Heist

Great cast and very funny. I loved it. Just a pure comedy.
_________________
All religions are the same - Guilt....just with different holidays.

[Undercover Monk]

Crazy Stupid Love

The best rom-com/dramedy I have seen since Serendipity. Steve Carrel works great as the everyman a role I enjoy more than his dumb bufoon he usually plays. In the opening minutes of the movie Carrel (as Cal) is told by his wife in the middle of a dinner date that she wants a divorce. Most ofthe movie deals with him trying to move on/ win her back. He is taught how to pick up women by smooth talking womanizer Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling). Meanwhile Cal's 13 year old son pines after his 17 year old babysitter who herself has a secret crush on Cal. Oh yeah and Kevin Bacon is in it too. Confused well you should be this movie like any good ensable comedy (which I didnt think it was til half way through the movie) is 90% set up. The big comedy scene near the end of the movie ties all the plot points together quite nicely. Its so hilariously over the top that I spent 5 minutes saying OH MY GOD in the middle of the theater.

with a runtime of nearly 2 hours its a bit long when you first watch it but with just enough humor to keep you entertained and a lot of heart this was so good I watched at the discount theater a couple a weeks ago and immidiately turned around and bought the dvd. Its a great look at what modern love is. Both Cynical and Romantic. A great watch with something for everyone. GO WATCH IT NOW.
_________________
The Classic Blunders:
1. never get involved in a land war in Asia
2.Never go in against a Sicilian when DEATH is on the line
3. Never release Peyton Manning

[Pablo]

Oh yeah? Well Tower Heist was so funny, I said "Oh My God" for an hour and then peed my pants.
_________________
All religions are the same - Guilt....just with different holidays.

[Undercover Monk]

this isnt a competition but if it was my movie would be winning
_________________
The Classic Blunders:
1. never get involved in a land war in Asia
2.Never go in against a Sicilian when DEATH is on the line
3. Never release Peyton Manning

[Quailman]

The Big Year

This movie got some really good reviews, but the subject matter doesn't appear to appeal to most viewers. It's about three obsessed birders who undertake to achieve a Big Year - to see as many birds as possible in North America north of the Rio Grande from January 1 to December 1.

Starring Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson, there seems to be potential for a lot of slapstick and/or comedy, but that's not the point of the movie. There's enough humor to keep it light, but it's more about the different natures of the three protagonists - Wilson, the hard-core, already-holds-the-record, obsessed birder; Martin, who has been thinking for years about doing this when he retired and that time has come; and Black, a young guy who's just obsessed with birding and works long enough at a time to make the money he needs to finance his next trip to hunt down more rarities.

As a birder who read the book - yes, it's based on a true story - I expected to enjoy the thrill of the chases, where they fly across the country on news of a first US sighting of a Pink-Footed Waffle Snatcher or whatever, but the gibberish about their relationships with their wives, girlfriends and parents turned out to be quite entertaining as well. That part was good enough to make my wife, son and mother-in-law enjoy the movie seemingly even more than I did.

Angelica Huston has the role of Annie Auklet, an operator of a tour company who legally changed her name to that of a seabird because she loves birding so much. FYI, this is fiction. The real person is named Debi Shearwater (another type of seabird).

If this movie is still around in theaters (probably not since the opening weekend box office was pretty low), go see it.

[Pablo]

Thanks, Q - it sounds good. I'm going to put it on my list.....right above Crazy Stupid Love.
_________________
All religions are the same - Guilt....just with different holidays.

[Undercover Monk]

Oh Pablo your words doth sting more than thy knife. So could you please stop stabbing me with it.

big year looked entertaining enough to rent. Have to save my dollars so I can go see the muppets in theaters

yes Im a muppet fan
_________________
The Classic Blunders:
1. never get involved in a land war in Asia
2.Never go in against a Sicilian when DEATH is on the line
3. Never release Peyton Manning

[Pablo]

My wife and I watched Crazy Stupid Love tonight, and whatever anyone tells you, it was WAY better than Tower Heist. If I'd have known Marisa Tomei was in it, I'd have seen it much sooner. Really good on many levels!!!
_________________
All religions are the same - Guilt....just with different holidays.

[Death Mage]

The Final Destination (AKA Final Destination 4).

Anybody who wants to make a movie in 3D needs to see this film, so that they know what NOT to do. The entire thing was filled with obvious poke-in-the-eye 3D shots. Then again, the entire film was also filled with quick "shock" deaths, like the previous two Final Destination sequels, which fly in the face (see what I did there?) of the heart of the original film.

So not surprised though. I don't think there's ever been a good horror film that's had good horror film sequels. (Evil Dead sequels were comedy, not horror. Ditto Tremors.)
_________________
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[j_s*]

Source Code

Actually rather enjoyed it, despite the negative comments of some folks in this thread. It ended up better than I thought; overall a good movie

3 1/2 stars out of 5

[itisally]

AI

Was that really as boring as it seemed, or was I just too tired to get the deeper concept today? I know I am in trouble when my primary thought about the movie was that the ending was pretty and the bear was a little creepy.
_________________
I could agree with you, but then we would both be wrong.

[Antrax]

You people should try to catch Footnote* if it shows somewhere near you. It's planned for a US release a little before the Oscar, and it's one of the best movies I've seen this year.
Here's a trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DjUwSr0VFo
_________________
After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I'm gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!

[Pablo]

[Scurra]

I'll wait for the inevitable Hollywood remake, thanks.

(No, actually, I look forward to seeing this. Can't find a UK release date though,)
_________________
_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[Death Mage]

Harry Potter and the Grand Finalè

Since this is ALSO half a movie, I made sure to rewatch the previous one first. All I can really say is, given that this is the latter half of the film, we get to the exciting parts. The first half of the story was build up for this. Which meant the previous movie was pretty much filled with nothing but preparation. Whereas this movie has all the payoff. And quite the payoff it was. This was a magnificent finish to the series. But we do run into the same problem the previous film had. This one cannot be watched on it's own. This is not a whole movie. What it is is an extended action finish. And it works for that, they have a lot of time to really play it out. And despite the fact that many feel there were a lot of loose ends left unsatisfied, the movie DID pay tribute to the minor characters throughout.

Given the two movies combined, I'd say I'm quite happy with the way things ended. Despite all the inconsistencies with earlier films. (Yea, the mirror coming out of nowhere was a bit unavoidable, but more the various modes of transportation coming out of nowhere and being usable in places they should not have been.) I'd say that I cannot recommend this movie by itself, but I doubt there's anybody who expects it to be a solo film, so *shrug*.

And now that I have my hands on the last two books, I'll start reading them.
_________________
* These senseless ramblings brought to you by Insanity™. If you just can't figure the dang thing out, it must be Insanity™.
[YOUR AD HERE!]

[Undercover Monk]

The Muppets

if you love the muppets you will love this movie. If you love musicals you will love this movie. If you love bad jokes, celebrity cameos, montages, unecesary explosions, or campy romance you will love this movie. It was was super hyped and I was worried it wouldnt live up to the movies I remember watching as a kid. It more than did i wont give away any spoilers but it is a definite must see.
_________________
The Classic Blunders:
1. never get involved in a land war in Asia
2.Never go in against a Sicilian when DEATH is on the line
3. Never release Peyton Manning

[The Ragin' South Asian]

I'm trying to remember what the last movie I saw multiple times in theaters was. Maybe The Dark Knight? Anyway, I've seen The Muppets twice and might try to catch it a third time. It's awesome.

[Death Mage]

The last movie I saw more than once in theaters was The Lion King.

Though I nearly went to Avatar a second time so I could actually see it in 3D.

(Then again, I don't think I've been to a movie in theaters since Avatar... I don't like theaters anymore.)
_________________
* These senseless ramblings brought to you by Insanity™. If you just can't figure the dang thing out, it must be Insanity™.
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